Finally stopped sorting my recycling by color after a neighbor set me straight

I spent like two years separating all my glass jars by clear, green, and brown before tossing them in the bin. Thought I was being super diligent or whatever. Then this older guy from three doors down saw me doing it last Saturday and just laughed. He told me the local facility here in Akron mixes it all together anyway. Has anyone else been doing some pointless chore for way too long without checking?

3 comments

3 Comments

ruby_henderson362d ago

right?? i spent a whole year meticulously peeling all the labels off my cans before tossing them because i thought the glue messed up the recycling process. my sister finally told me to knock it off because it doesn't matter here either. feels like we're all just performing a weird little ritual for no reason at this point. at least we got some good arm exercise out of it i guess.

lewis.finley2d ago

honestly the label thing might actually be hurting more than helping in some places, because those labels are often made of a different plastic that can clog up the sorting machines if they're floating around loose instead of staying on the can. like we're all out here trying so hard to do the right thing but the system is so complicated that our best efforts might just be messing it up more. it really makes you wonder how much of this stuff is just us guessing while the recycling companies change their rules every few years.

ray3562d ago

You call it a pointless ritual, but I'd rather wash cans than have them stinking up my garage for a week.